Captain's Log, April 25, 1174 BC:
We narrowly escaped the clutch of Polyphemus in his cave. He even pleaded to his father, Poseidon, to strike us down. His words echoed far and wide, but they could not possibly reach the ears of anyone that mattered. You could hear the anger and pain in his voice as he called for our undoing. He is nothing but a savage brute living on a remote island. He was just wallowing in his own pain since he could no longer see. My crew seems to be in decent spirits since we were able best the cyclops. They have been pouring libations and recanting the tale of how we tangoed with the cyclops and took his vision. I do not revel with them; the burden of losing some of my men hangs heavy with me. Why could I not save them? I am, in fact, Odysseus. Tales of my trials and conquests have swept across all of Greece. The mighty Odysseus should have been able to keep all of his men alive. How can I live up to this standard that these tales have set for me? I must stay strong in the face of adversity. If I were to show any signs of weakness my men would surely lose their hope.
Captain's Log, May 1, 1174 BC:
It has been days since our last meal at the land of the Cyclopes. I can sense the doubt and discouragement starting to plague a few of my men. I put on my bravest face and assure them that it is storm season and it is expected to hit some rough water during this time of year. At first I actually believed that, but now I am unsure. The way we have been thrown around by sporadic gusts of wind and turbulent water is as if the gods are playing with us. Was Polyphemus' prayer heard? I laughed at the thought of him actually doing anything when he swore upon us. Why would the gods listen to the prayers of a savage cyclops? Why did I let my ego get the best of me? We were set to escape the island without Polyphemus ever knowing who bested him. I am beginning to think that I might have doomed my crew with my braggadocios ways. Athena, if you can hear my prayers, please grant me and my crew a safe voyage home. Please do not punish them for my lapse in judgement. With all of the gods as my witness, I swear I will change my ways if I can ever return to Ithaca.
(Odysseus and his men fleeing from Polyphemus, by Bocklin)
Author's Note: For this story, I wanted to focus on how Odysseus would write about his epic journey home to Ithaca in Homer's Odyssey. The Odyssey focuses on the ten years that Odysseus endures before he is able to return home from the ten-year Trojan War. Odysseus travels all across the Peloponnese facing adversity after adversity. The hero faces encounters with the gods, the dead and a plentiful supply of mythical characters and beasts all while trying to return home from war. One segment of The Odyssey delves into Odysseus encounter with Polyphemus, a cyclops, on the Island of the Cyclopes.
I wanted to specifically focus on the period right after all of the Cyclops stories. I wanted to do it from the perspective of Odysseus since his private log entries would be the only time he could fully express his thoughts, emotions and feelings about the series of events that unfold. He always has to have his guard up since he is leading his crew back home. It is interesting to note that Odysseus translate to "trouble" in Greek; this helps to explain why he is constantly getting into dangerous situations.
I thought the image I used gave the best visual of how daunting and angry Polyphemus is. I also really liked it since it shows just how close Odysseus and crew were to being obliterated by the mighty cyclops.
Bibliography:
The Odyssey, translated by Tony Kline (2004)
Jamison, I liked how you used a captain's log to tell the story of how Odysseus felt as he was leading his crew home to Ithaca. I thought the writing was clear, direct and made it easy to understand how Odysseus felt about the journey. It was a creative way to tell a different aspect of the story that is unseen in the original epic story. I also think the image you included helped picture the event you were describing, although it would have been nice to have the picture a little bit larger so that it would be easier to see the details in the photo. Overall, I thought the spacing, font and color choices all made it easy to read this story, and it seemed like all the links worked and connected to the appropriate websites so I could learn more. I think you did a great job on this storytelling assignment! :)
ReplyDeleteHey Jamison!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your story, especially because it was in the perspective of Odysseus. It was really creative. You can do a lot with writing in the point-of-view of Odysseus because of the role he plays in the story. He plays the captain and thus has a lot responsibility; he has a lot of things go through his mind. He has to think not only about himself but also his crew and his ship. You took advantage of this and did a great job!
Jamison, I really like the way you wrote this story. Setting it up as if it were Odysseus’s personal journal was a great idea. I think you did a good job using the type of vocabulary that Odysseus would have likely spoken in. The tone of both of the entries really shows how Odysseus felt about the events that happened on the island with the Cyclopes and how he really does regret bragging about his victory. I think it would have been a good idea to include some sort of introduction at the beginning of the story so the reader would know what exactly happened with the Cyclopes and why Odysseus and his men were on the island with the Cyclopes in the first place. Overall, I think you did a great job writing this story. I like the layout of your site as well- it is simple and has a very clean appearance.
ReplyDeleteJamison,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the way you decided to structure your post. I think the idea of a Captain's Log is a very good way of putting the story together, because it let you put things in first person like that. Your word choice was also very good, as it seemed to follow the same general feel of most of the actual stories I've read so far from that time period. I also thought you did a solid job of hinting at what had happened previously at the beginning without going into a full-length summary. The photo also went perfectly with the story you were telling. Something I haven't seen a lot of but really liked was the number of questions that you included in your story. From the first person perspective, this does an excellent job of showing the self-doubt Odysseus is feeling. It is something I would like to potentially include in one of my stories in the future.
I really liked how you set up the story. The idea of using a captains log was good. You could actually read what he was thinking and his true thoughts. It is as if he had his guard down and you were able to sense what he was feeling. The captain's log was a good way to show what he would probably not want to show the crew members. I enjoyed reading about it.
ReplyDelete